New York Is The Secret Ingredient
by somefloozy
Summary: When everything else is falling down in his life, the Andersons realize that New York - and Kurt - might just be the missing ingredient he's been looking for. Klaine and a cute little OC!
1. Chapter 1

"What did you just say?"

Blaine knows he's said the wrong thing even before the words come out of his mouth. Kurt snatches his hand away from where it's been entwined with Blaine's over their table at Breadstix, unusually packed for a Sunday evening. In hindsight, Blaine supposes it's a convenience over anything else, because nobody notices the hurt in Kurt's eyes as he recoils or the icy glare that appears seconds later.

"I said no, Kurt. I can't."

"I heard you loud and clear, Blaine. Don't you want to be with me anymore? Is that what this is?" It's moments like this that Blaine wishes he was more open about his past. Also his present, his brain supplies bitterly. Being in a relationship with Kurt for the past year, they've worked themselves into a familiar, comfortable routine. They'll go for coffee at the Lima Bean three times in the week, usually after their respective Glee practices. Blaine finds himself at the Hummel-Hudson's house most Saturdays, watching the game with Burt and Finn or spending time with Kurt (studying or otherwise.)

No questions asked - just how Blaine likes it. Kurt's never been to Blaine's house but it's never been an issue, nor when Blaine has to disappear from the Lima Bean when the clock strikes five.

"_You're like my modern day Cinderella," Kurt had joked one rainy Wednesday, as Blaine had kissed him over the table and gathered his things hurriedly after realising the time. "You can keep your glass slipper though." _

Except now Kurt is sat across from him, looking pissed and wanting answers. Blaine takes a deep breath. What better time to tell your boyfriend all your deepest secrets than when he's mad at you, in the middle of a busy restaurant of all places?

Probably any other time, he thinks.

"Kurt, it's not like that at all and you know it." He reaches over the table, a feeble attempt at grabbing his hand failing as Kurt crosses his arms. His hand falls and he taps the table nervously. "You know how you've never been to my house and you know practically nothing about my family?"

Kurt leans forward, hands finding their way slowly back to Blaine's. He nods.

"Well. My Dad and my older brother are both in the army; although I think you knew that. They're away for the majority of the year, I think they're somewhere in Asia at the moment but it's been so long since I spoke to them, I couldn't even tell you where.

"So that leaves me, Mom and my little sister Caitlin at home in the big house our Dad bought us with all the money he earns."

Kurt's thumb is tracing light circles on Blaine's palm. "You have a sister?" he asks. "What's she like?"

"She's wonderful. She's 7 years old and she's the typical little girl – you know, obsessed with Disney princess and tea parties. She's so clever, too. She's come first in every spelling bee she's ever competed in." Blaine smiles at the thought of his little sister, standing centre stage among her peers, dressed in a Snow White costume correctly spelling 'trapezium' at last month's competition.

Kurt smiles. "I think she and I would really get along."

"Oh, you would." Blaine's bright expression falters for a second. "I'm all she has though. Mom isn't what you'd call a nice person. She's well affiliated with a bottle of vodka and she's got all these attitude problems on top of that. Somewhere along the way, she put alcohol first and never looked back." He huffs out a humourless laugh. "More like she disowned my brother after her refused to follow the path of our Grandpa, her father, and become a doctor. He had the brains. It just wasn't in his blood."

Kurt's face is a picture of pain. Blaine can see him trying to imagine having such a dysfunctional family, and feels his sympathy through the increased pressure of comforting strokes with his thumbs. Blaine's smile is sad.

"I'm kind of all Caitlin has. I clean, I cook, and I play Fairy Tale with her when I don't have homework. It's why I leave you at 5pm every damn day, to get to her playgroup for 5.30 to pick her up. I can't just leave. It'd be too much. New York will just have to wait."

Blaine looks up from the napkin he's been subconsciously picking at to look at his boyfriend, eyes spiked with tears and he hates that he put them there. So in true Anderson style, Blaine takes the problem and breezes past it, keeping an air of grace and calm about the whole thing. Kurt's never sure how he does it.

"So, are you going to be a good boyfriend and split a cheesecake with me, or…?"

* * *

><p>It's 2 years and one near miss with a vodka bottle to the head (Blaine's, specifically) later that leads to hushed voices and haphazardly packed suitcases in the darkness of the Anderson house. Blaine's mom was sleeping fitfully in her room and while Blaine shushed his little sister in his arms he realised he couldn't do it anymore. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell, pointing to the screen to show Caitlin where Kurt's latest text lay, sent almost an hour beforehand.<p>

**The offer's there if you want it. Have courage. K x**

"What do you think, Caty?" Blaine whispered into her hair. "Wanna go and pay Kurt a visit?"

Now 9 years old, Caitlin has come to love Kurt almost as much as Blaine does. After that date in Breadstix, Blaine had brought Caitlin (and her tea set) over to the Hummel-Hudson's one afternoon and they'd instantly bonded.

"_She's special, you know. Just like her brother." The afternoon Carole had whispered that to Blaine, the two of them watching Caitlin and Kurt play Princesses, he knew exactly where his heart belonged, and it sure wasn't in Westerville. _

Sat on her brother's lap in the dark room, her bursting smile had given Blaine his answer. With shaking hands he texted Kurt back, kissed Caitlin's temple and raced her to pack the fastest before creeping to Blaine's car, strapping in and driving away from their old life, and into the new.

**We're coming! I love you! B xox**

* * *

><p><em>In this moment, there are three things that Blaine has never been surer of in his life. The first is that he is fifteen years old – a sophomore beyond his years, thank you very much. The second is that it's the 9th October, 2010 (and subsequently he is sick of hearing about wishing on Airplanes in the night sky, because really, B.O.B?)<em>

_The third is a bit more complicated than disliking that damn song. _

_He thinks he's in love with one Kurt Hummel._

_No, he doesn't think, he knows._

_Perhaps that's the most complicated thing, seeing as Kurt Hummel doesn't know he exists. Well. He's fairly sure someone like Kurt Hummel wouldn't give him the time of day. He certainly wouldn't take the time to notice the intricate hearts Blaine is pencilling into the margin of his notebook as he sits in the corner of the Lima Bean, back pressed to the window as he perfects the loop of what must be the twentieth 'K&B' on the page. _

_Except that's where Blaine's wrong because Kurt Hummel has totally just noticed him. _

_Or, much to Blaine's dismay, Kurt Hummel has totally just noticed his notebook. _

"_Excuse me?" Used tray poised delicately on hip and head cocked in confusion, Blaine is pretty sure he's never seen anything so beautiful. He turns in his chair and it takes a second to register that Kurt - Kurt Elizabeth Hummel, Kurt whose Celine Dion solo won the McKinley High Cheerios their sixth consecutive national championship before Blaine even knew who the Cheerios were – is standing right by him. Oh God, Blaine thinks. He smells fantastic._

_Also, who knew that the look of love looked as though someone had just pulled you backwards through a hedge? Kind of like surprise mixed with horror and a pinch of humiliation, his thoughts add with a slight grin. _

"_What's so funny? I just couldn't help but notice that my name is all over your notebook. Flawless penmanship, but I do believe we've never met. Kurt Hummel?"_

_There it is. The handshake._

_Blaine feels his cheeks flush as he takes the hand dumbly and goes pliant as Kurt gives it a firm squeeze. _

_In a moment of inspiration, Blaine decides that all is not lost and although he has fumbled his way through this terrible first meeting (that he was hoping to tell to his grandkids 70 years from now) he can still be spared the complete humiliation of being caught fantasising about the head cheerleader from the year above him. _

_He replies with a smile, "The name's Wes. B stands for…Blaine, Blaine Anderson. He's this kid from Dalton, I think he's got a crush on you and he'd seen you on the sports network. I was actually…just thinking of ways I could introduce you guys. This is my…" and it takes Blaine everything he's got not to wince at his own words by this point, "Kurt and Blaine notebook. I was just…designing the front cover." _

"_It's very subtle, I must say," Kurt says with a smile, prying the notebook from Blaine's hands and tracing a finger over the 'Kurt' that fills the centre of the page. "So what's he like? Is he cute?" _

_Blaine can't help but notice Kurt's eyes haven't left the notebook. He also can't help but notice that Kurt freaking Hummel is sat opposite him, fawning over Blaine Anderson who he's never even met but sort of really has. _

_It's moments like this where Blaine wishes he could slap himself, ten times over, with whichever dead fish is closest to him. But then again, he considers as Kurt finally _finally_ looks up and bares his teeth in what Blaine is completely assuming to be an intimate grin, he also considers himself pretty damn lucky._

_So he sits back, waits to see where his poor social skills will take the afternoon, and prays to God behind his mug of coffee that Wes doesn't walk through the door. _

* * *

><p>"So you were pretty stupid, huh." They're forty minutes into their walk from the airport to whichever branch of Starbucks is nearest to Kurt's apartment, Blaine having just told Caitlin the disastrous story of his and Kurt's first meeting. Caitlin had folded her arms and refused to get into a cab that Blaine had kindly hailed, insisting that she wanted to see the city.<p>

"It's the Big Apple, Blaine! I'm not gonna see nothing from inside a cab, we have those back home!"

As Blaine has never been one to argue with a woman (and an Anderson at that,) they'd waved off the clearly pissed driver in favour of taking to the streets and making their own way.

Unfortunately, Blaine also learns from the experience that his ideas will never go to plan, and he makes a mental note to stop trying to get the upper hand with his nine year old sister as he struggles to keep her balanced on his hip, two suitcases lamely pulled along behind them with his other hand.

"I suppose we were. Now, Caty, we really should talk about you walking like a normal human being-"

"It's _hot, _Blaine, and I'm tired."

"-and how strong your big brother is carrying your suitcase for you as well as his own, and how carrying you is making him a _lot _more tired than you could possibly be-"

"Did you not hear me?" Her left hand tightens around his neck and she points in the direction they're walking. "We're going all the way down there. We're gonna be walking for…for _ages, _Blaine, and I'm tired."

"I heard you first time, Caty." This is definitely defeat, Blaine thinks with an exasperated sigh. "Tell you what, if you walk by yourself for the next fifteen minutes, I will carry your bags _and _buy you an ice-cream." Take the offer, Blaine thinks, before my arms fall off. My arms will literally fall off. At the thought he can feel the joints at his shoulders loosen and sees himself suffering the fate of Woody in Toy Story, his arm is going to just rip off, and if Caitlin doesn't move pretty much _now-_

Silence. Has he actually won this? His little sister has actually surrendered?

"…nope. Now giddy up, horsey, we've got to go and see Kurt!" She kicks him lightly on the small of his back. "Giddy _up!_"

Sometimes Blaine forgets that's she's nine years old. He giddies up.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's notes: Hiya! It's a bit of a tired line, but this is the first time I've posted any work online so please be gentle (although I'll happily accept any criticism as long as it's constructive. You know, the helpful kind!) This is, at the moment, a one shot, simply because I can't think of anywhere to take it. I just had the scenes in my head and had to write them - know the feeling? So if anyone wants this to go anywhere, it probably could with a bit of thinking! Thanks so much for reading if you have :) Emma x<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

"So w-what's the plan?" For all the misery he's brought Kurt over the past couple of years, David Karofsky isn't actually a bad guy. Granted, he's shoved his fair share of kids into lockers in the past, but he's not the one twirling someone else's phone between his fingers with a menacing smirk.

"How many times, Karofsky? We bring Blaine to New York, show him that Kurt doesn't need him anymore, they break up and we take what's ours."

David frowns. "But isn't that a bit…drastic? I mean, I just wanted to see Kurt, not estrange him from the love of his life-"

"Oh please. Tell me, if you had the choice, would you not like to hold Kurt in your arms, wake up to him every day and screw him as often as you wish?" Sebastian Smythe is nothing if not manipulative. He's also very blunt.

David nods shyly.

"Besides," he continues, "I still think the two of you have unfinished business after what went down in your Junior year." Karofsky winces as he remembers the look of horror on Kurt's face after he'd kissed him, but hopes it doesn't show.

David Karofsky may force himself on unsuspecting students.

But he's not actually a bad guy.

"…and I'm absolutely positive Blaine is harbouring some deep feelings for me. Or at least," Sebastian adds, "for my dick. Boy must be exhausted from all the skin care routines and truly exhilarating strolls in the park." He rolls his eyes.

The two of them are in Sebastian's apartment, David pacing anxiously while Sebastian reclines, phone in hand. He wonders if Kurt has noticed it's missing yet. He hopes not, because Kurt's just checked into the Starbucks nearest the airport Blaine will just be arriving at on Facebook and he kind of really needs to stay there. Sebastian grabs the address from the web page and texts it to Blaine, taking care to add the appropriate kisses and hearts. (He hopes Kurt sends three kisses and a heart. He seems like that kind of guy.)

"In answer to your earlier question, Karofsky," Sebastian says, "I've just sent Blaine to the Starbucks Kurt is currently in. He checked in there on his laptop. We'll just have to monitor them extra carefully from here on in. Now," he enquires, spinning in his chair, "are you in?"

Karofsky's eyes are serious when he nods and replies, "sure am."

* * *

><p>Karofksy's wondering if it's too late to back out when fifteen minutes later finds them sat on a bench opposite the Starbucks, newspapers held to shield their faces.<p>

Also, their comedy glasses/nose/moustache pieces.

Nothing to see here, folks.

"Sebastian, this is just about the stupidest thing you've ever suggested. In what world does this keep us hidden?"

"Ssh!" Sebastian rolls up his paper and swats David. "If you take a second to remember where we are, this is New York, not Ohio. Everybody is too busy to even notice us and those who do will think we're method acting." He turns back to his paper. "If anyone stops us, we've just been cast in the next Sherlock Holmes film. We're simply…getting into character."

"Sherlock Holmes?" David asks, bemused. "Is he the detective guy? Sebastian, this all seems so stupid-"

"Would you just shut up?"

Sebastian's hissing this time and nudging David's side behind their newspaper fort. When David follows Sebastian's eye line, he sees Blaine approaching the coffee shop. With a little girl in tow. Now who the hell was that? His sister?

David only realises he's been talking aloud when he feels another swat of the newspaper on his bicep and hears Sebastian snarl, "no shit, Sherlock."

* * *

><p>Kurt Hummel likes to think of himself as a reformed man. Sure, he's still the out and proud, fashionably adept, sarcastic boy from Lima. But now he's confident and content with everything in his life. It's all perfect.<p>

He's sat in the Starbucks nearest the airport his darling boyfriend is about to frequent. He's nervous but excited, feet tapping impatiently as he checks his emails, anything for a distraction. The barista notices his wide eyes and shining expression as she comes over to clear away his third empty mug of non-fat mocha.

"Is somebody in love?" she asks, tray balanced carefully on hip. She's only used to customers this early in the morning – her watch reads 6:20am – when they're hopelessly in love, or hopelessly upset. (Or hopelessly on their way to work, but.) By the look on the man's face before her, she seriously doubts it's the latter.

"Sure am," Kurt replies dreamily, eyes not leaving the door beyond her. "I happen to be in love with the bravest, most beautiful man I've ever seen. Who I haven't seen for far too long," he adds with a sigh. Kurt turns his attention briefly to the laptop, refreshing his emails once more and preparing to shut the system down. He's just signing out of Facebook when, from across the empty café, he hears the barista sigh happily.

"He's here," she says softly, which is strange, because the plane isn't due for another 30 minutes at least. Were planes often early?

Then Kurt looks up and he's pretty sure his mouth is hanging wide open, but he doesn't care.

Blaine and Caitlin Anderson just walked through the door.

He hasn't spoken to either of them since before he left for New York. He wasn't sure if he'd ever see Blaine again.

What were they doing here?

What was Blaine doing here?

* * *

><p><strong>Author's Notes: I am SO sorry for the long wait for this - I was waiting for inspiration to hit and it finally did on a long-distance train journey last weekend! Then I had to get round to actually typing it up...comments are always appreciated and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! I've got a more solid idea of where this is going now, so update should be a bit more regular. Thanks again!<strong>


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